low census sucks!!!

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

ok, so I've lost 16 hours off my check this pay period....3 shifts to go and I'm off again today! If I stay off it'll be 28 hrs! This sucks....I know that the economy's down, but it also doesn't help there are 17!!!! nurses on the night shift...hardly any patients....so, what ya gonna do? I've told my finance that I hope the downtime is only due to summer, but if the hours stay down over the next 6 months, I'll have to trade floors or go somewhere else....good thing I'm working two jobs, but still....let's all say a quick prayer that work picks up for us all!

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

it will pick up flu season is coming and you will get plenty of hours . our census dropped , but went up quickly last night. hang in there..

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Specializes in ICU.

I got called off today too - 2nd time in 4 weeks. It worked out perfectly, though - one of my cats had her kittens tonight and I got to be home for it! Two babies and they both had good birth weights! :yeah:

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

we have had no slow down this summer at all. i live in south florida and usually summer time our census is a bit lower than usual bc all the snowbirds are home.... but we have been full to the max, especially with traumas--lots of crazy stuff going on right now and lots of very depressed people with suicide attempts, got a patient two nights ago that jumped off a bridge and survived. our ER is on overflow and they are holding! definately not short on hours here, they're begging us to come in!!!

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.
I got called off today too - 2nd time in 4 weeks. It worked out perfectly, though - one of my cats had her kittens tonight and I got to be home for it! Two babies and they both had good birth weights! :yeah:

your cat had kittens??oh that is soo cool !! as you can see by my name i love cats... i am so happy for you and your cat !! are the kitten's cute? i love kittens.. 2 baby kitties awww .. i'm sorry you got called off , but i am so excited for your babies... we have one cat now a maine coon she is 11 and will be 12 years old on halloween, i had another cat but she went to the bridge on dec 17th 2008 , she was 14 years old. we thinking of adopting a kitten....

anyway congratulations on your new babies , i'm glad things worked out for you on being called off !!! give those baby kits a hug for me !!:yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah:

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Specializes in ICU.

The babies are cute, for newborn kittens. Honestly, I think they look like mice when they are newborn. They are so tiny, and my breed doesn't have much hair on the legs and tail. Plus, the ears look like mouse ears until they open. Still darling, though. It's amazing how fast they develop. They are clumsy today and have a hard time latching on, tomorrow they will be nursing like crazy and really good at finding mama's belly in the nest.

I think there are two blue boys. I haven't gotten this color in a while, so I feel like I hit the jackpot - twice! :paw:

Anyway, to keep this on topic, our census has been either/or. Either we are only half-full (or less!), or we are stuffed full and have pts waiting to get in. This is our less busy season. Last fall was awful, it actually got better in Jan & Feb, when we are usually the busiest. We were full, though, until April, when it started with being either really slow or really busy. Right after 4th of July, we had seven vents, which is a lot for my unit, and two the next day.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.
The babies are cute, for newborn kittens. Honestly, I think they look like mice when they are newborn. They are so tiny, and my breed doesn't have much hair on the legs and tail. Plus, the ears look like mouse ears until they open. Still darling, though. It's amazing how fast they develop. They are clumsy today and have a hard time latching on, tomorrow they will be nursing like crazy and really good at finding mama's belly in the nest.

I think there are two blue boys. I haven't gotten this color in a while, so I feel like I hit the jackpot - twice! :paw:

Anyway, to keep this on topic, our census has been either/or. Either we are only half-full (or less!), or we are stuffed full and have pts waiting to get in. This is our less busy season. Last fall was awful, it actually got better in Jan & Feb, when we are usually the busiest. We were full, though, until April, when it started with being either really slow or really busy. Right after 4th of July, we had seven vents, which is a lot for my unit, and two the next day.

sorry didn't mean to get you off topic... but the kits sound cute !!

i hope your census goes up , with the flu season coming up the census should rise... our worst month is october... we are very full oct and november then slow down for the holidays..

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Specializes in ICU.

No need to apologize. Trust me, I need no encouragement to talk about my kitties! :D Just didn't want to hijack the OP's thread!

:paw:

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most of the time our hospital stays full because we are only one teaching and state hospital in the arkansas now on january 2008 we move to the new building we had to open one whole unit in the old hospital because we didn't have enough beds only time our census is low in thanksgiving and christmas

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Specializes in SRNA.

I'm so thankful for our union and that there's no mandatory low census where I work for RNs. Usually people volunteer for low census, but if there are no volunteers, we just end up with lower nurse to patient ratios or non-patient assignments if there aren't enough patients.

I took low census tonight and will use PTO to get paid for it. I just didn't want to work tonight since I had the last 3 nights off and will have the next 3 nights off....7 days off sounded like a good idea :)

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Specializes in A myriad of specialties.
ok, so i've lost 16 hours off my check this pay period....3 shifts to go and i'm off again today! if i stay off it'll be 28 hrs! this sucks....i know that the economy's down, but it also doesn't help there are 17!!!! nurses on the night shift...hardly any patients....so, what ya gonna do? i've told my finance that i hope the downtime is only due to summer, but if the hours stay down over the next 6 months, i'll have to trade floors or go somewhere else....good thing i'm working two jobs, but still....let's all say a quick prayer that work picks up for us all!

that does suck! how does your hospital determine who loses hours? does every nurse at one time or another lose the same # of hours? i ask because even though our hospital doesn't lay cut hours due to census, we will all be losing quite a few days over the next 21 months.

our union contract needs renewed and will be voted on soon; to help with the state's budget problems people will be taking "unpaid days off"--the # taken off depends on your salary. looks like my husband and i each(since we're both at the same hospital) will have to take 14 unpaid days off over the next 21 months--of course to cover those who are off, others will have to work overtime (or be mandated to work overtime). and of course most of us can't afford to take virtually one day off a month so we will look for another shift to make up for the shift lost. it just makes no sense.

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm not the OP, but I am non-union. We just take turns. We keep track of the last date each person was called off. Whoever has the "oldest date" gets offered to go home first. You can refuse, and they will go to the next person on the list. If everyone there refuses to go voluntarily, then the person with the oldest date has no choice but to go home d/t low census (which I have never seen happen; somebody will want to go on any given day). Except for this summer, your date usually only rolls around every 4-6 months. Most of us have PTO to cover the day off. Those that don't have it don't get paid, so they generally defer to someone else.

What bureaucrat thought up the idea for you to take an unpaid day which has to be covered with someone on overtime? :confused::banghead:

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